Set the Egyptian God of Chaos, Storms and War

Did you know that the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction was originally associated with love and eternal order? Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the Egyptian god Seth, also known as Seth. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos twice a week, so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. In ancient Egyptian mythology, Seth, also known as Seth and Suetekh, was one of the five gods born of Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky, after the creation of the universe. Seth was the god of war, chaos, violence, confusion, the desert, and storms, and was the brother to Osiris, Isis, and Horus the Elder, brother-husband to Nephthys, and uncle to Horus the Younger, the son of Osiris and Isis. Seth also had an Egyptian consort, Tawaret, who was a hippo-headed deity of fertility and childbirth, and two consorts, Astarte and Anat, who were imported gods from Semitic mythology in the Near East. He was associated with the color red and could be referred to as the Red One and the God of the Red Land. As the god of chaos and violence, he directly opposed harmony, or mart, which was the backbone of the ancient Egyptian religion and society. Seth is well attested to in the early history of ancient Egypt, and in the Old Kingdom pyramid texts, he appears very frequently. In the early dynastic period between circa 3150 and 2613 BCE, not only was he an important god in Upper Egypt, but he was a benevolent one. He was invoked in love spells and his name was inscribed in amulets used as love charms. By the Middle Kingdom, his mythology had assimilated with the sun god Ra. Seth would stand on Ra's bark and keep the serpent Apophis from stopping the sun god's journey through the night sky towards dawn, and in doing so make sure that the sun rose the next morning. He was therefore associated with the eternal order that allowed things to work as they did. Seth became associated with foreign lands, and during the Hyksos period, the foreign rulers identified Seth with their god Baal, an all-powerful protected deity. By the New Kingdom though, he had come to be best known as the first murderer who killed his older brother Osiris in order to rule Egypt, and then failed to beat Osiris's son Horus for the throne. His importance had lessened by the New Kingdom, but he became a patron deity of sorts for the Ramesside kings in the 19th and 20th dynasties. The Greeks associated Seth with their god monster Typhon, who was thrown into Tartarus after challenging the might of Zeus and being defeated. Seth was an incredibly strong god, and the one scepter he wielded was equivalent to 2,000 kilograms or 4,400 pounds. His strength is noted in the epithet Great of Strength, but some of his other attributes were also referred to in his epithets, like Lord of the Desert and Ruler of the South. He was depicted as a beast with red hair, a forked tail, and long curved face and tall ears. Some scholars say this image was modeled off the dog breed Saluki, but others say it was a purely mythological animal created specifically to represent Seth, and which has become known as the Set Animal. He is also depicted with a humanoid body and the face of the Set Animal. Seth was also associated with the mythological griffin, the hippopotamus, crocodile, tortoise, and especially the serpent. The firstborn of Geb and Nut was Osiris, which meant he got to be the ruler of the world, well, the ruler of Egypt. In order to civilize the barbarous people of the region, Osiris gave them culture, taught them agriculture, laws, and the proper ways to worship the gods. Osiris married his sister Isis, and Seth married Nephthys, but Seth grew jealous of all of Osiris's power and hated how successful he was as a ruler. All of this resentment grew when Nephthys disguised herself as Isis, seduced Osiris, and became pregnant with the god Anubis. Seth decided he wanted to remove Osiris as ruler, and so he threw a party, where he had a special surprise, a beautiful wooden chest. Whomever fit perfectly into the chest could take it home. No one fit in perfectly until Osiris gave it a go. It was a perfect fit, but then Seth slammed the lid on, sealed it, and threw it into the Nile. There are a few different versions of the rest of this story. Some say Seth and 72 accomplices killed Osiris, and others say Seth alone killed him. Some say that Seth murdered Osiris in the chest casket, and then disposed of it. And others say Osiris suffocates in the casket, and then it gets washed up on the shores of Byblos, and a tree grows around it. In this last version, the tamarisk tree grew quickly around the casket with Osiris inside, and in time the king and queen of Byblos noticed the beautiful tree, and so they cut it down, and used it as a central pillar in their court. Seth took the throne in Osiris's absence, and storms, drought, and hostility followed. Isis searched for Osiris, and ended up in Byblos, where she became the nursemaid for the young son of the king and queen. She was disguised as an elderly woman, and while she was looking after the young son, she became fond of him, and decided she would make him immortal. How does one become immortal? Well, you have to burn away any mortal qualities in a magical fire, of course. One night, while the child was in the magical fire, the queen interrupted, and was horrified by what she saw. Isis threw off her disguise, and revealed that she was actually a goddess. The king and queen were terrified, and said they'd give her anything, and so she asked for the tamarisk pillar. She freed Osiris, and hid him in a swamp in the Nile Delta, and went off to find herbs to revive him. She asked Nephthys to keep watch, so Seth wouldn't find him, but Seth tricked his wife into telling him where Osiris's body was hidden. Seth chopped up the dead king in pieces, and threw the pieces all across Egypt and into the Nile. Isis and Nephthys headed off in search of all of the body parts, and they found them all except for one, his penis. Although Osiris was alive again, he wasn't whole, so he couldn't rule over the land of the living anymore, and instead descended to the underworld to become the ruler of the dead. Before his descent to the underworld, Isis transformed herself into a falcon, and flew around his body, drawing out his seed, and becoming pregnant with their son, the god Horus. After Osiris became the lord of the dead, the seat for ruler of the living was up for grabs, and there were two gods who wanted the job, Seth and his nephew Horus. The story, which is known as the Contendings of Horus and Seth, survives to us today from an Egyptian manuscript from the 20th dynasty, so between 1190 and 1077 BCE, and it recounts the 80-year battle over who is the rightful king of Egypt. It's a combination of legal battle, where both gods present their case, and also a series of challenges and battles, which end with Horus proclaimed as king. In some versions of the tale, the two gods battle, Seth is defeated and driven from the land. In some, Horus becomes king of the Nile Valley and civilized lands, and Seth, the king of deserts and foreign lands, and in other versions, Seth is killed. The battles fought between Seth and Horus were ordered by the gods, and most of the nine gods, known as the Aeneid, decided that Horus was the rightful king, but Ra wasn't convinced, and the vote had to be unanimous. Ra thought Horus was too young and sheltered, and even though Horus won every contest against his uncle, Ra wouldn't change his mind. Isis figured that she would have to intervene, and so she transformed into a young woman and sat outside of Seth's palace. She cried and cried, and when Seth walked past, he asked her what the matter was. She told him how a wicked man, her husband's own brother, had murdered him and taken his land and flocks, and how she and her son had been driven from their inheritance, and how the evil man now wanted to kill her son. Joke's on Seth, because he became pretty moved by Isis's story, and furious enough that he swore he would destroy this man and get them back their lands. Isis then revealed her true identity, as well as the presence of the invisible gods who had heard his oath, and Ra was officially convinced that Horus should rule, especially since Seth's condemnation had basically come from his own mouth. Horus became king of the world and ruled wisely like his father. Order and harmony was restored once again, the land became fertile, and the crops grew in abundance. Another version of the contendings of Horus and Seth tells how the gods absolutely cannot agree on who should be king, so they consult the goddess Ni, known for her wisdom and often consulted over godly disputes. It was at her suggestion that Horus be given rule over Egypt and Seth over the deserts and foreign lands, and since no land could be as splendid as Egypt, Seth was granted the foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte as consolation consorts. Seth began as a god who protected Ra against the serpent Apophis to make sure the sun would rise the next day, but by the new kingdom he had transformed into a god that was basically evil and stood for all the things Egypt feared and hated, like chaos, drought, destruction, and foreign invasion and influence. It's interesting then that Ramesses II would choose to elevate him once more. Seth was associated with Upper Egypt, the south, and Horus, Lower Egypt, the north. During Ramesses II's time, both gods would be in inscriptions of the crowning of the king, but eventually Seth became so villainous he was replaced in these inscriptions by Toph. Why Seth remained popular is probably due to the Egyptians' appreciation of mart, balance, and harmony. With Osiris being a god of fertility and life, his counter was found in Seth as the god of destruction and chaos. Seth was worshipped at his cult centre in the city of Ombos primarily, which began at least in the early dynastic period, but he also had temples honouring him throughout Egypt as he continued to be regarded as a source of strength and protection against precisely the kinds of threats he himself could unleash. As who better to protect one from the dangers of life than the god who could send them? Can you think of any other figures from other mythologies that played the same role or had similar responsibilities to Seth? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday. This video was brought to you by World History Encyclopedia. For more great articles and interactive content, head to our website via the link below. 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